Rob Fahrni » Android

Mobile, definitely a passing fad

Rob Fahrni — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:50:39 +0000

VentureBeat: “Starbucks has now processed more than 26 million mobile payments since January, Adam Brotman, vice president and general manager of digital ventures at Starbucks, told VentureBeat.”

In a word, WOW! Do you think Peet’s and other big names will soon follow suit?

Peet’s, I’m here to help. (I know, shameless, but a guys gotta try, right?)

Amazon and Android sittin’ in a tree…

Rob Fahrni — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 05:17:29 +0000

TechCrunch: “It’s called simply the “Amazon Kindle”. But it’s not like any Kindle you’ve seen before. It displays content in full color. It has a 7-inch capacitive touch screen. And it runs Android.”

I’m pretty sure Amazon is pulling a fast one on Google. If they do what I suspect they’re doing they could take over the top spot in the Android OS space, ahead of Google. Yes, I think they could do it. They have their own Android store, they have the selling power of the Amazon and Kindle name. If they focus on creating a great user interface and experience on top of the Android OS why can’t they be the leader? Android is dying for someone to create an iOS, or even WebOS, experience.

Why not Amazon?

Choosing a good backup phone

Rob Fahrni — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 19:47:21 +0000

Tested: ” If you want to save a little cash, and maintain your freedom, you can always pick up a used Android phone on eBay or Craigslist. Since you would be getting this phone second hand, warranties are of little use. You need to make sure the handset is as described. That guy on Craigslist probably doesn’t take returns.”

Having a nice GSM based Android phone as a backup isn’t such a bad idea, especially if you’ll be traveling to Europe.

Is Apple Big Brother?

Rob Fahrni — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:47:07 +0000

Alex Levinson: “I don’t think that’s a legal battle Apple wants to face considering the sale of over 100 million iDevices worldwide. That raises the question – how is this data used? It’s used all the time by software running on the phone. Built-In applications such as Maps and Camera use this geolocational data to operate. Apple provides an API for access to location awareness called Core Location.”

No, Apple isn’t “Big Brother”, that’s the government’s job. Go read the article, it’s very good, and gives you the truth about how the data is used, including this nice little nugget.

“Apple is not harvesting this data from your device. This is data on the device that you as the customer purchased and unless they can show concrete evidence supporting this claim – network traffic analysis of connections to Apple servers – I rebut this claim in full.”

Oh, and yes, Android devices do something similar.

If you have an iPhone and would like to create a map of the places you’ve been, there’s an app for that.

Dave Winer on his Nexus S

Rob Fahrni — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 16:34:28 +0000

Dave Winer: “And the Nexus has a light, cheap plastic feel to it. For a $600 piece of hardware that has to compete with the iPhone, it should have some heft, some gravitas. It has none. Seriously. It feels a bit like a McDonald’s happy meal toy, compared to the iPhone 4 which has a unique feel to it, not like anything else, and seriously interesting. You just like to hold it. It sounds so flakey, but it’s true.”

Dave chose an unlocked Nexus S for his trip to Europe. These are his initial, out-of-the-box impressions. He’s been an iPhone/Droid user for quite while. The Nexus S will grow on him, I’m sure.

Gowalla for Android

Rob Fahrni — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 16:27:25 +0000

Gowalla: “Gowalla 3 for Android is a completely new vision of using Gowalla. While it features many of the things that people love about its iPhone counterpart, we wanted to make the Android version something both uniquely Gowalla and uniquely Android. Every screen has been rethought and reworked. No stone was left unturned.”

It looks like the boys and girls from Texas took a page from their iOS playbook and ran with it. The result, a beautiful mobile application for Android.

Well done.

Android, Free is King

Rob Fahrni — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 15:36:23 +0000

CNN Tech: “But for developers who wants their programs to make serious money, a nonunified app ecosystem may be less than desirable. Fully 74 percent of respondents said developing for Apple’s iOS gave the best opportunities for paid-app revenues, and twice as many developers claimed their apps were more visible in Apple’s app store than they were in the Android Market.”

Emphasis is mine. Another concern for developers was fragmentation. No surprise. Still, Android is a BIG deal. It’s the Microsoft Windows of Mobile.

You cannot ignore the platform.

One developers view of Android changes

Rob Fahrni — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 18:37:09 +0000

Elia Freedman“This is a huge change for Google and one I applaud. The old model was just not tenable. No one — and I mean no one except carriers and those manipulating the OS for their nefarious gains — liked what was happening to Android. As developers it was too many minute changes on too many platforms. It wasn’t one Android, it was 5000 of them: Verizon’s Android, AT&T’s Android, HTC’s Android, Motorola’s Android, Samsung’s Android, etc. And as developers we had to pick and choose which Android we would support.”

I’d imagine the developers that are trying to make money on this platform will love the change. Maybe, just maybe, it’ll mean a more consistent experience.

On Android and iOS?

Rob Fahrni — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 16:31:36 +0000

BGR: “BGR has learned from multiple trusted sources that Research In Motion is planning to bring its beloved BlackBerry Messenger app and service to Android, and eventually to iOS as well. According to our sources, RIM has not yet finalized details surrounding timing or pricing, but we have heard that the company might make the software free to all users. We’re also told strategy is still being developed, however, and RIM may end up charging users a one-time fee or even a recurring fee for access to its BBM service on third-party platforms.”

Microsoft won bidding war

Rob Fahrni — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 20:13:47 +0000

Computer World: “IDG News Service – Nokia on Sunday hinted that Microsoft essentially won a bidding war against Google to supply software to the world’s largest handset maker and that the software giant agreed to pay “billions” of dollars for the privilege.”

That explains a lot.

I was preparing to write a post based on some tweets by Robert Scoble. I thought Nokia had kind of lost their minds based on those tweets. They definitely have the talent to make Android do what they want, it would take time to do it, but they could do it. If Microsoft is supplying them custom builds of Windows Phone that will take time as well.

Microsoft has essentially bought a hardware company to help push Windows Phone 7. Not bad, not bad at all. If this works, and Nokia can patch up the disaster this deal caused internally, it could help push Windows Phone into competition with the iPhone and Android.

It could happen.